


Bourbon Flat Talk

by dmhello



Series: Person-Looking Friend [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Autistic Charlie Weasley, Because trauma, Blue Hepburn (OC) (mentioned), Charlie Weasley-centric, Gen, Neurodivergent Percy Weasley, Percy Weasley-centric, Sibling Bonding, Slight Molly bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29992020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dmhello/pseuds/dmhello
Summary: Charlie remembered the first time he talked about his complicated feelings of home to another member of his family.To his surprise, it was Percy he diverged his feelings too. That and a whole bottle of bourbon.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley & Percy Weasley, Penelope Clearwater/Percy Weasley, Percy Weasley & Weasley Family
Series: Person-Looking Friend [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1990201
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	Bourbon Flat Talk

Charlie remembered the first time he talked about his complicated feelings of home to another member of his family.

To his surprise, it was Percy he diverged his feelings too. That and a whole bottle of bourbon. The bottle being the whole reason Charlie visited his new flat. Percy had just moved out and Charlie was determined to continue the tradition Bill had established when he moved to Romania: the older sibling of the newly moved family member gifting alcohol.

The housewarming gift weighed heavy in his hand by the time his brother let him in. It had taken ten whole minutes to convince Percy to open the door, and another twenty to get him to open the bottle. He managed it by mentioning it was the favorite drink of the minister, the whole reason he’d bought it for Percy in the first place.

“It can be a talking point,” he smiled. “Plus if he knows you like his favorite, maybe he’ll invite you for a drink.”

Percy perked up slightly, a split second of a smirk flashing on his lips. His shoulders not as tense and reaching for the sky anymore. He guided Charlie through the shoebox of a living room still littered with boxes to a sizable kitchen. An island in the middle with newspapers and files scattered about, along with some handwritten recipes peppered in. Percy waved his wand and the chaos fluttered to one side, leaving the other half to do their drinking.

“Glasses are there,” he said pointing to the cupboard above and to the left of the sparkling steel sink. Charlie smiled at the little sponge and dish soap organizer stuck to the side of the sink. The scent the same one they used at the Burrow, lemon.

“And maybe you can ask for a raise once he’s properly sloshed.” Charlie chuckled, but backtracked and made sure Percy knew he’d been joking when his face fell further. “I’m kidding, I know you’d never do that. Against that code of ethics you read last summer.”

Percy relaxed and looked almost impressed Charlie remembered one of his discussions. It wasn’t often one of the family members remembered Percy’s in-depth reads on ministry law. He didn’t catch a lot of it being outside so much, but he enjoyed letting Percy rant as long as Charlie got to rant about dragons. Percy even related them to his creature law book every so often. It was about the only time they had bonded, so Charlie remembered it fondly.

“I’m glad you think I’m not that much of a snake,” Percy sighed.

“Hey, a lot of my friends were Slytherin if you recall,” Charlie said, poking Percy as he handed him his glass now filled with the alcohol. “And I was almost put in Hufflepuff or Slytherin too.”

“Really?” Percy asked amazed, eyebrows poking out from his glasses they were raised so high “I never knew.”  
“Never came up,” Charlie shrugged “and then I became friends with most of the lot and spent most of my time in their dorms. Oh, the irony! I was almost so interesting.”

“A Weasley in Slytherin? Interesting is one way to put it. Our parents would have killed you.”

“I know, probably why I ended up in Gryffindor. Hat was going through my options and I took one look at Bill and found myself in red. Can’t even recall what it said.” Charlie shook his head at his younger self. He had been so concerned about what people thought of him back then. He shivered with embarrassment just thinking about it. “And Mum and Dad wouldn’t have killed me. They would have gotten over it eventually. Maybe then the twins or you would have joined me or Ravenclaw or something.”

“Ravenclaw would have been nice,” Percy nodded “would have been Penelope’s prefect partner.”

“Where is she, anyway?”

“With her family, they have dinner every Friday. I usually go but I wanted to unpack more.”

“Sounds really nice,” Charlie smiled “good food?”

“They usually do this muggle thing called take out. It’s really good, unhealthy mind you, but good.”

“Oh, I love takeout! Blue and I do it on trips a lot. Have you had any pizza yet? Or tacos, tacos are my favorite!”

“I do like tacos, they’re customizable so I get a say in what goes on my plate. It was a first.”

Charlie snickered “you don’t get a choice in food at home?”

“Of course not, you know what mother is like? You’ve only been gone six years don’t tell me—”

“No, no P I meant here with Penelope,” Charlie clarified quickly.

Percy’s face went from stewing with anger to scrunched in confusion and slowly morphed to completely relaxed with awe, mouth agape. “You think of this as my home?”

“You moved here didn’t you? Picked it out and everything? Don’t know why it wouldn’t,” Charlie cocked his head “unless you don’t feel like it’s home?”

“God I’ve never felt more at home anywhere. It’s just—” Percy swallowed, forehead wrinkling slightly. “How much do you know about our fights and me leaving?”

“Not much, got a few mentions in letters to piece a few things together. I know it wasn’t pretty.”

“It was ugly, that’s for sure,” Percy nodded, feet shuffling as he downed a sip of the bourbon. He coughed and his lips went inside out at the burning. Charlie waved his hand, silently giving Percy a few more ice cubes in his glass. He nodded in a thank you and took smaller sips from then on.

Charlie truthfully had received an abundance of letters from his siblings concerning Percy. Lots of complaints and angry rants with scratchy inked-up words that made it clear this had been no small row like his mum had described it as. It was one of those situations that no one was right, nearly everyone was wrong, and the whole thing was bound to melt or implode eventually. Charlie didn’t feel adequate enough to even talk about it with Percy or his parents. He hasn’t been here for any of the fights and felt too biased towards both sides for any of opinions to stick properly.

“He said I only got the promotion because the minister wants me to spy on the family.”

“Christ,” Charlie swore. Percy scowled at the odd word. He had grown accustomed to using it in Romania since there were so many vampires around the country. Vampires liked the phrase more than Merlin. Something about a muggle myth on crosses and their love of irony.

Percy gave a tense tap with his finger to his glass. “What do you think about that?”

“You were hoping for that for a job forever. If he’s concerned about it, your announcement was not the time.” Charlie said, slowly trying to process his thoughts. “Let you enjoy it and let his worries out later.”

“Worries? You think that’s what that was?”

“Well, you don’t theorize or worry about things that don’t matter, do you?” Charlie stated, looking at Percy’s confused face. “But no offense to dad, he’s only the head of a department they all think is a joke. He’s not exactly a person to spy on.”

“I think it’s more about Ron and Harry.”

“...Oh,” Charlie blinked “well then, you’d still wouldn’t be a good choice for a spy. You’re too by the book. If I were to pick a spy out of any of us it’d be Bill, those Goblins like him for a reason. None of us would be a good choice really. We stick out too much in a crowd.”

Percy gave a tiny snicker. “What did Snyde say that one time? That you were a short candlestick to any room?”

Charlie snorted, and couldn’t help but laugh at Merula’s old taunts. “I showed her, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked. Charlie tensed a little, not wanting Percy to rat him out.  
“Oh, I got assigned a few smuggling jobs,” Charlie said trying to sound nonchalant even though it was nothing but. The job required him to be sneaky, sometimes even borderline sneezy to get what he needed. He became good at it and loved doing it even more. “Everyone does at some point. Got a lot of eggs out of it. They just hatched—”

“Do you miss home?” Percy said, hand gripping the cup and eyes only on the counter.

Charlie got caught off guard at the change of topic. His guard even more unready for the abrupt question. He put his glass down, leaning back on the counter and crossing his arms, tapping his finger on his body to think. Percy leaned in with every tick of his very loud watch for Charlie to answer.

“I miss how it felt,” Charlie said with a mournful tone. “How I felt about the people and the house and actually being present in both always felt different, but I noticed it more when I moved out. How I remembered the Burrow as so warm but it suffocating actually being there, now that I know what my home feels like in comparison. I mourn what the Burrow used to mean, but no, I don’t miss being there.”

Percy gave a nod and a breathy little noise telling Charlie he’d been listening. The younger man hung onto every word, taking it in slowly and letting it ferment before doing anything. Charlie could see the barrels of his words filling in Percy’s eyes. He wanted to say more about his feelings but didn’t know how to summarize years of therapy in one conversation.

“I know you have your beef with all of them, and I get it, really I do,” Charlie started feeling his throat go dry. “I have my own problems with Mum especially, and I was never brave enough to say any of it. I always just kept it bottled and it made me so angry.”

“You always said to shut it because she was trying her best,” Percy said scowling.

“Yes, well, retrospect is one hell of a double edge sword. Innit? It makes you seem like you're lying now even though you’ve just grown.” Charlie let out a breath, swallowing. “What I’m trying to say is that her best could have...it could have included more things. She could have listened more, not pushed what she wanted on us so hard. Their best doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be held accountable.”

“Charlie,” Percy breathed in surprise. He never felt so seen. He thought he’d been alone and that no one understood his complicated relationship with his parents, but here Charlie was. It wasn’t exactly the same, he didn’t have a disability that went unnoticed for his entire childhood. He didn’t dare equate his struggles and clash of personality to that, but it was nice hearing someone not put them on a pedestal just because they weren’t the worst they could. They had their flaws, and Percy and Charlie had a right to be upset about being left in the cracks.

“I’m honestly just surprised you didn’t pull what I and Bill did and flee the country. The distance does wonders.” Charlie grinned, grabbing his cup again and lifting the still cold glass to his lips once more.

“I am sorry I didn’t say more, about the twins picking on you, about everything. Maybe if I did...” Charlie stopped, wondering what he could even end that sentence with. Percy would still be on speaking terms with everyone? It wouldn’t take alcohol for him to open his door to his brother? Percy wouldn’t have bags under his eyes? He didn’t even know which one to pick.

Percy walked around the kitchen island, leaning and letting his backrest on the same counter Charlie had been leaning on. Their arms almost brushed as he took a small sip from his own glass.

“I know whose job it was to parent us. It wasn’t you or Bill’s.”

“I know, but I could have stood up for you more.”

“I could have understood you more, tried to understand and accommodate. I didn’t. We both messed up for each other. You came and visited, and I remember you let me ramble about my reports and finding at the ministry and my school work. I couldn’t even stand to listen to you talk about dragons for two minutes.”

“You did, sometimes when you were smaller. I remember,” Charlie said, “I didn’t have a diagnosis yet. We didn’t know.”

“That’s no excuse!” Percy swallowed, making sure to adjust his volume. He didn’t mean to break into a yell, but it makes Charlie tense up all the same. “I’ve been reading up on autism since Mum mentioned it after that Christmas visit.”

Charlie chuckled, smiling “of course you did.”

Percy smiled back ever so slightly. “I understand why you did a lot of things now. But I shouldn’t have snapped at you for any of it. I shouldn’t have lost my temper as often as I did.” Percy bit his lip, a look of pure remorse sweeping over him. “I should have never called you a freak.”

“You were young Percy. You regretted it as soon as it was said. You apologized for that a long time ago. It’s not like—”

“Charlie” Percy scowled, cutting him off “forgive me, but you make a lot of excuses for people when they’ve hurt you. Have you noticed that?”

Charlie stood still, blinking up at Percy in shock.

“Those are reasons people do things, it shouldn’t discard the pain they caused you. You’re allowed to be angry and upset at people.”

“I know but...” Charlie bit his lip “but I don’t want to be. I don’t want to be angrier than I already am. It hurts already, I don’t want to feel worse. It never helps. It just makes me meltdown and that never does anyone any good. Least of all me who just want to get on with my day.”

“But you’re hurt, and there comes a point where it’s just not healthy for you to keep coming back to things that hurt you.”

“Why do you think I left?” Charlie sniffed, looking down “I left for Romania the second I graduated. It only looked like I left for a dream I had, but I was running away a bit too. Bill moved to Egypt the first chance he got to. Honestly, you’re the only one that’s done it outright and tied to England enough to stay in the country.”

“This is different and you know it.”

“I know,” Charlie nodded “I always figured if I left myself instead of getting kicked out or running away it would hurt less.”

“Hurt you,” Percy asked, “or hurt them?”

“Both? Them? I don’t know.”

Percy shuffled his feet, looking down at the bottles. “Does it ever get easier?”

“Bit by bit,” Charlie nodded, “the distance helps. You find your own life, let everything cool down. The anger doesn’t seem like a bursting volcano like it did.”

“You’re still angry though.”

“I am,” Charlie nodded “but I’m working through it, therapist and all that. Untangling my brain a bit, understanding what happened and what I’m actually angry about.”

“Are you ever going to talk to them about it?” Percy asked nervously “confront them about what they did.”

“I think for me it’s more of what they didn’t do.” He swallowed “I’m getting there I think. There’s just a lot going on right now. I want to be able to have a conversation with them.”

“But there’s always a lot going on at that house. If you’re waiting for a quiet moment you’ll be waiting forever.”

“Point,” Charlie said, sighing.

“It’s like you’d rather stay in your corner seething than not inconvenience them, Charlie. It’s not going anywhere but an explosion.”

Charlie tapped his black ring to his glass, mulling Percy’s words over. Percy’s wounds from home were fresh and he wasn’t exactly the pinochle of an unbiased opinion right now. That didn’t stop him from having a point. Why was it so hard for him to just say something to them? Did he not want to peel old emotional scabs off? Or did he just not want them to realize they’d made him bleed in the first place?

“I’m still bitter, Perc, that’s for sure,” he said “but I’m mostly just tired. So, so tired, and Romania is my bed.”

Charlie shuffled his feet, glancing at Percy as his brother quirked an eyebrow.

“If that makes any sense.”

“Kind of” Percy nodded “but I still think you should say something, anything. It’ll make you feel better.”

“Did it?” Charlie questioned, “did it make it better?”

“They know exactly what they need to apologize for,” Percy said raising his nose in the air “and I’ll be right here until they do.”

Charlie doubted his parents or anyone in the family realized what apologies were due to Percy. Just as Percy likely had no idea what he should be apologizing for either. He decided this conversation had taken a direction he didn’t like and changed the subject.

“At least here is nice,” he said, looming around like he hadn't already seen everything when he walked in. “Did Penelope help with the decorating? Blue and I did our living room together, but I did most of our kitchen.”

Percy grinned wide and went into adamant detail about each item they had found whilst thrifting together, and that she had taken him to this wonderful little muggle place called IKEA for their bookshelves.

Charlie enjoyed himself overall, and together they finished half the bottle of bourbon. He promised to send Percy a fresh bottle of wine when Romania’s vineyards got their stock in so it could age with his new home. That made Percy finally grin enough for the joy to reach his eyes. It wasn’t much, but Charlie would take it.


End file.
